What is perhaps the most legendary science fiction film in the history of cinema has been restored to its original, hand-coloured form. The fantasy shot in Paris in 1902 is a story of the man's desire to travel into the unknown and a testimony of the unique quality that early film had as the illustrator of the imaginary. A Trip to the Moon (Le Voyage dans la lune) is an entertaining narrative whole that also bears prefigurative similarities to the journey made by the astronauts of the Apollo programme almost 70 years later and Neil Armstrong's first steps on the moon, the satellite that has always fascinated humanity and inspired stories. The moon Armstrong landed in had no Selenite kingdom, but this has not prevented us from imagining mining operations or Nazis (as witnessed at the festival this year) on its surface later.

Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon is the first filmed narrative of our known history situated on a foreign celestial body. Spectators have queued to witness the journey of Professor Barbenfouillis, launched using a cannon and played by Méliès himself, to the eye of the Moon. The newly restored colour version is a miraculous part of film history and simultaneously a testimony of the ability of the 21st century film industry to bring the almost impossible within our reach. A frail nitrate print of the film was found in a completely unprojectable condition already in 1993. It took 18 years for the film to be restored: the restored version premiered at the Cannes film festival in 2011. Many early films have been lost forever, including the majority of films made by Georges Méliès. Seeing a colour film that has survived over 100 years is a wonderful exception to the rule and a historical cinematic experience.

Espoo Ciné celebrates the incredible voyage of the film to the present day by screening the silent film with musical accompaniment by Cleaning Women. In the second screening, A Trip to the Moon can be experienced with a soundtrack created by the French duo Air. Both screenings start off with Serge Bromberg's and Eric Lange's fascinating 60-minute documentary The Extraordinary Voyage that tells the story of the historic restoration process, the unimaginable inventions used in it and the nearly impossible struggle against time that the film has overcome.

Both screenings feature two films: Bromberg's and Lange's documentary film The Extraordinary Voyage is followed, after a short intermission, by Georges Méliès' A Trip to the Moon.